


A Sound

by jokersby



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Batjokes, Batman - Freeform, DC comics - Freeform, M/M, NSFW, Post-Killing Joke, first fanfic, i guess, in a while, quick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 10:23:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11355504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jokersby/pseuds/jokersby
Summary: Hearing but a simple sound can change things forever.





	1. Listen Closely

Like many nights in Gotham City, it was a chilly and breezy one. It was quiet other than the sounds of cars in the distance and the wind whistling through tight alleyways and open windows. The city’s masked vigilante was doing his last rounds for the night, doing a once over of the city before he went home and turned in. He sat up on top of an apartment building near Trillium Park, watching a woman walk home from work to make sure she made it there safely.

“Batman,” a voice boomed into his ear, pulling him from the depths of his thoughts. He moved further back onto the building to slip into the shadows and fully hide his presence, leaning against a brick wall. He pressed a button on his utility belt, allowing him to answer the voice coming from the small earpiece he had hidden in his ear.

“I’m in the East Park Side, what do you have for me, Oracle?” He asked, keeping his voice low enough that only Barbara could hear him on the other end. He slipped further into the shadow as a car drove by, not wanting any unnecessary attention on himself.

“There was an anonymous report to the GCPD of a bomb in Bay Side; I can’t figure out who gave the tip, but Gordon and the bomb squad their way there. I highly suggest that you intervene.”

“Why should I intervene? Is it big?” He asked, pressing another button on his belt, calling his batmobile to pull around the corner on its own. Once it arrived, Bruce jumped down from the building he was on top of, scaring a few stray cats before he opened the driver side door and got in.

“It’s your favorite guy,” she said after a moment with an edge in her voice. This news pulled a small sigh from Bruce. Of course it was him. Out of all bomb-crazy criminals in Gotham City. It was always him. A part of Bruce wanted to apologize to Barbara for the millionth time, but he didn’t; he couldn’t. Nothing he could say could fix her spine now.  
“I’m on my way, let me know if anything else comes up,” he finished, putting the car into gear and racing off towards the blip Barbara had put onto the map on the console of his car, letting him know which building his adversary was attempting to blow up this time.

Thoughts of the crazed clown lingered in Bruce’s head for the duration of the drive. He wondered how he got out of Arkham this time, but then he wondered why he stayed in there for so long. His mind went to the night that the monster shot Barbara. A sick feeling pooled in his gut as he rubbed his face, his focus returning to the road soon after so he didn’t make a mistake and miss a turn.

Joker wanted to see him. He knew he did. He always wanted to see the Batman when he got out of Arkham Asylum so he let him know that he was out and flaunt it in his face. A small part of Bruce knew the bomb wasn’t a serious threat. It was just a tease. Another way that the Joker would get under his skin. If Bruce had the luxury to guess, the bomb wasn’t actually dangerous. There was a small margin of probability that the bomb was just filled with confetti. If it was, it wouldn’t be the first time, and it was most likely just a way to get Bruce’s attention and to waste his time.

Glancing at the map in the console of the car, Bruce neared the building that the bomb was located in. He parked in an alley way, staying away from the police and the red and blue flashing lights. He didn’t want them to accidentally alert whoever was inside the building of the Bat’s presence. It would ruin the surprise, not that the Joker wasn’t fully expecting him. They both knew each other way too well. They fell right into the same patterns every time they went head to head, nothing ever changing.

They were destined to play cat and mouse forever.

Bruce waited in his car, calling up Barbara again, asking her for the Joker's location. He wanted to get in there and kick the Joker’s ass as fast as possible so he could go home and get some well-deserved rest. Lately he wasn’t sleeping well and Alfred insisted that Bruce needed to come home earlier and earlier; but crime never sleeps. Alfred usually gives him a look when Bruce says this to him before giving him a cup of strong black coffee.

Barbara’s voice once again pulled him from his thoughts as she told him where the Joker was. “He’s on the roof, and he’s alone. There's no other heat signatures other than his. I don’t think this anything big. If anything, it could be a prank, couldn’t it?”

“It could be, but I don’t want to take that chance with the Joker. He’s unpredictable.” There was a small pause before Barbara spoke. She, other than Bruce, knew this better than anyone.

“Yeah, he is unpredictable. Just get up there and take him back to Arkham. I’ll let you know if anyone else shows up or if the cops move in. I know you don’t like it when they interrupt you guys.” The line went dead before Bruce could breathe out a word.

 

 

Beeping.

Beeping was all Bruce could hear as his mind fixated on the clown in front of him, ignoring all the quips, jokes, and insults that spewed out of those messy red lips.  
A cold breeze blew past them, causing goosebumps to pucker up on Bruce’s skin underneath the Kevlar.

He needed to disarm the bomb the Joker had strapped to himself, and fighting him was the only way he could get close enough to even mess with it. Incapacitating the clown was the best option that he had to stopping him. He couldn’t let the crazy man blow the both of them up.

The bomb had little under twenty minutes left on it.

Batman threw another fist at him, which the clown quickly dodged – the punch landing on a brick wall that had a door that lead down to the inside of the building, causing the brick to splinter easily onto the ground of the rooftop they stood upon. He cursed and turned to the explosive clown, who was laughing and saying something along the lines of ‘up high, down low, too slow’. The Dark Knight waited for a moment, allowing the clown’s defense to momentarily falter, which it did when the clown went into another laughing fit. Bruce lunged forward, grabbing the man by the collar and slamming him against the brick wall to hold him down, eliciting more laughs and giggles from him like it always did.

This time different sound left the clown’s red lips.

A moan.

Not a moan of pain, but a moan of pleasure.

Sexual pleasure.

Bruce’s blue eyes widened and he pulled back some, his grip slackening on the wrinkled collar as he looked down at what caused this new noise. He had made a grave mistake pushing closer; his knee was pressed between the Joker’s legs, putting pressure on the one place that he never wanted to get near.  
The light feeling of hands running up his Kevlar chest and around his neck pulled Bruce out of his thoughts, the crime fighter’s eyes slowly moved back up to look at the man in front of him.

“Ooo~, Batsy, I didn’t know you felt that way about me – you just have to ask and I’m aaaaall yours,” his adversary said, licking his lower lip with a low chuckle and looking at Batman through half-lidded eyes. Panic rippled through Bruce’s body, telling him to run and hide. He would never live this down.  
Quickly pulling back, Batman left the lithe man to lean against the wall, bomb still ticking as he turned to look away and rub his face. He could hear Gordon's voice over a megaphone, asking for the bomber to come down and turn themselves in. He looked over towards the front of the building, watching the lights flash as he controlled his breathing.

“What’s wrong? Bat got your tongue?” The Joker stepped forwards towards him, trying to close the once tight space between them. The Joker adored it when they were close, whether it was because they were fighting or not.

Bruce didn’t move. His mind was blank. He didn’t hear the beeping anymore, but his eyes laid on the bomb. He refused to look at the Joker’s face because he couldn't decide f he had liked or disliked the noise he had heard. His whole body was hot and he felt the need to leave.  
He needed to get that damn bomb of him or they were both toast.

Bruce recollected his thoughts for the moment and stepped forward, closing the space between them, grabbing the Joker by the neck. Before the Joker could say anything, his batarang sliced through the duct tape that held the bomb to the Joker’s body, ripping it straight off of him. Right before the Joker did try to say something, Batman answered him with a flush punch to the face to distract him as he took the bomb and jumped off the building and escaped the situation. He could hear the Joker cursing and complaining as he glided to the ground.

Bruce didn’t even bother to disarm the bomb, he just took it around front to the cops, giving it to the bomb squad and letting them know that the last time he saw the Joker he was on the top of the building, ignoring questions about whether or not Bruce would go chasing after the man, leaving as soon as possible.

Once he was back in his car, he turned off his com, not wanting to talk to Barbara right now. He sent her a message saying that it was under control and that he was going to be home soon before he took off, taking the long way home, the noise that Joker made echoing in his mind.

Barbara would murder Bruce if she knew that Joker would have that sort of effect on him.

He shouldn’t have an effect on Bruce like that.

 

 

After pulling into the Batcave and parking the Batmobile, Bruce walked past Alfred, who was offering him water and a sandwich, ignoring him and failing to give him a simple hello. He bee-lined to the changing area to take his suit off. He was still too hot.

Bruce had been too hot since he was on the roof with the Joker.

“Well, hello to you too, Master Bruce,” the butler sassed, “I do advise you to eat before you go to bed, granted that you actually go to bed tonight.” Alfred placed the glass of water and sandwich on the desk nearest to the changing area that Bruce was in.

“I’ll eat and sleep tonight Alfred, don’t worry. It’s been a long night. I need sleep. Thank god I don’t have anything scheduled tomorrow,” Bruce sighed, sitting down to work on taking his boots off. He glanced at the shirt and sweatpants that sat near him before he looked down, noticing that he was semi-hard. He cursed at the Joker and himself and quickly pulled his sweatpants on once his boots were off, hoping that the sweatpants would cover his embarrassment long enough until he got to his bedroom.

“Actually Master Bruce, you do have something scheduled for tomor-“

“Cancel it and reschedule it for next week,” Bruce interrupted, really needing a day to just not do anything and not talk to anyone. He would most likely spend the day in the Batcave before he went out for the night.

Bruce exited the changing room, looking at Alfred, who noticed the exhaustion on the millionaire’s face. Alfred gave him a sympathetic look before he spoke. “Now I will turn in for the night, and I hope that you sleep well, Master Bruce.” He gave him a small bow and then a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Please get some sleep, sir. Since the Joker is back on the large, you need as much energy as possible.” Alfred began to walk away, throwing, “Good night,” over his shoulder as he stepped onto the large elevator, going back up to the manor to retreat to his bedroom, leaving Bruce alone.

Once alone, Bruce sighed and slowly picked at the sandwich, looking at his phone and checking the news. The police hadn’t captured Joker, meaning that he was still running around and causing trouble for the city of Gotham and for Bruce. He put his phone down before he downed the water and picked up the plate that only contained the crusts of his sandwich, making his way to the elevator and up to his bedroom after he put the dishes in the kitchen.

As soon as Bruce’s head hit his pillow, he was hard as a rock. He couldn’t stop thinking about the Joker’s moan and the look on his face. The Joker had made passes at Bruce before, teasing and flirting at him, but this time it as entirely different. This time Bruce had made the pass. Bruce groaned in frustration and pulled his blankets over himself almost to hide the shame and then reached his hand over to his side table to grab some tissues. He was going to have to rub this one out to get it to go away.

Once under the blankets and situated himself to lay on his back, he pushed his sweatpants and boxer-briefs down in one go, releasing his throbbing member. This is the hardest he’s been in a long time. Bruce licked his lips and moved his hand down, wrapping his hand around himself and slowly began to stroke himself. He shuttered and breathed out, using his other hand to pull up the blanket a bit more. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get the image of the Joker out of his head. His mind imagined what he would look like sprawled in front of Bruce, and the sorts of sounds and noises he would make due to Bruce’s touch. It didn’t take long for Bruce to cum onto the tissues he had prepared, his breath heavy. He threw the blanket off of himself and looked down, his stomach turning. He couldn’t believe he had done that. Especially to the image of the Joker. Bruce swung his legs off of his bed and stood up, pulling his underwear and sweatpants back up, situating himself inside of them as he waited for himself to go soft. He sighed and walked into the bathroom to clean himself up, flush the tissue down the toilet, and to splash some cold water on his face to return to his senses.

Exiting the bathroom, Bruce froze. The patio doors were wide open, letting the wind cause the curtains to billow and blow around, and allowing the moonlight to illuminate the piece of paper that now lay where Bruce laid down only minutes before. Bruce swallowed hard and walked up to his bed, picking up the note and reading it.  
In sloppy, but intricate handwriting read:

Thanks for the show, Batsy.  
I’ll think about you tonight too. ;)  
Love,  
Joker <3


	2. Hide and Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a Stranger Calls

To Alfred’s dismay, Bruce didn’t sleep a wink that night. He was too shaken up by the Joker’s little love letter and because the Joker somehow found out that he was Batman and watched him masturbate. Bruce wasn’t sure how he felt about the Joker watching him quite yet. Part of him was, not that Bruce would ever admit to it, turned on, and the other part of him was anxious and ashamed. Bruce laid in bed for the rest of the night, staring at the ceiling while deep in thought, not bothering to lock the balcony door. It didn’t matter now. Joker knew who he was and where he lived, and if the Joker wanted to do anything inside of the house, it would be to Bruce.

Though, the real question is why hasn’t the Joker done anything menacing with the information. The clown was always out to ruin the man’s night, or even life, but why hasn’t he done anything else? Was the Joker was just letting him know that he knew who Batman was and that he was watching him? It was hard telling until Bruce met with him next. A feeling in his gut told Bruce that their next meeting would be very soon.

 

 

It was 5 in the morning when Bruce decided to get up and leave his bedroom, but before he left he locked his balcony doors and put a chair against the handles to ensure that the doors wouldn’t open from the outside. He made a mental note to get better locks on the door.

After making sure the doors wouldn’t budge, he left his bedroom and slowly made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen of the manor. Alfred hadn’t awoken yet, but Bruce started the coffee pot and peered into the fridge looking for food. The butler would wake up around 7am, and then start breakfast sometime around 8am or later, depending on when Bruce would wake up that day. Bruce rubbed at his face and then made himself a bowl of cereal. His stomach didn’t feel too well from the lack of sleep, so eating something light was nice.

While eating, his phone started vibrating in a pulsing pattern, alerting him that he was receiving a phone call. He swallowed what cereal in his mouth and picked up his phone, looking at it. Who would be calling at such an hour? He looked at the number, finding that it wasn’t any number that was in his phone. He frowned, thinking that maybe it was a tele-marketer, but that was unlikely since he prevented any sort of calls from them. After letting the phone ring for a small while, he finally answered it at the last second.

“…Hello? Who is this?” Bruce asked, standing up to start walking to the nearest computer, which was in the library. If it was anything mysterious or dangerous, he wanted to be able to trace the call or at least record it.

“My, my, my, what are you doing awake at this hour, Batsy?” A voice questioned smoothly, but laced with sleep. The voice was a familiar one that almost stopped Bruce in his tracks, but he then moved faster, entering the library quietly and sat down at the desk to plug his phone into the laptop, not removing the cell phone from his ear.  
“Batsy?” The words felt odd coming off his tongue, “I think you may have the wrong number, who is this?” Bruce played dumb to keep the conversation going as he pulled up the software that would allow him to trace the call. The system was loading and trying its hardest to find out where the phone that the Joker was speaking on was from.  
“Oh, my bad, it is daylight, isn’t?” There was a certain nonchalant tone to the voice that sent shivers down Bruce’s spine. The man on the other line continued. “Well then, I should address you by your day name then, hmm Bruce?” Bruce swallowed hard as his mouth went dry. Well, the jig is up. He knows he can stop playing dumb now, especially now that the system was almost done loading. Bruce lowered his voice before speaking slowly.

“Joker, how in the fuck did you find out who I am?” There was tension in his voice now, the practiced aloofness long gone. There was a couple of ‘tsk’-ings on the other line while Bruce set up the now loaded program to trace the call he was on.

“I’m not dumb, Brucie, I’ve stared at your luscious lips and into your pretty blue eyes enough to be able to recognize your face on TV and magazines. Your little batsuit can’t fool me.” Bruce could hear the smile in his voice. He should have known this was going to happen, but why after their last encounter? Why couldn’t it have been after a different, more normal encounter? The Joker was probably enjoying himself more than ever right now. He had another way to pick and prod at Bruce.

The system was set up now and was searching for the phone Joker was using. Bruce was so tense that his muscles began to hurt and he started to grind his teeth together. He mentally noted to himself to have Barbara develop a faster system to trace calls. It would benefit not only themselves when shit like this happens, but it would also help the police.  
“What do you want from me?” Bruce asked, as the system finally located where the call was coming from. He could feel his cereal from earlier rising into his throat as he zoomed into the map of Gotham City, closer and closer to his manor. This was bad, this was very bad. Once he zoomed in all the way, he leaned back and rubbed at his face. The blip landed right on his manor.

The Joker was somewhere in his house.

“Well, I wanted to play a game with you. As I’ve sure you’ve noticed by using your fancy technology, I’m in your big beautiful house. I want you to find me. I know you know this place like the back of your hand, but I’ve had a fun time exploring it, especially your bedroom. I’m sure you found my note, darling.” Joker purred the last bit before he continued while Bruce stood up and looked around the library he was in to begin with. “Take your time, Brucie, but remember, your dear little butler is asleep and I know you would just love for him to find out that I’m hidden away somewhere in your safehouse. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt anybody. I just want you.” Joker paused, letting the words settle uneasy, but warmly into Bruce’s mind. Bruce left the library to now look in the kitchen and pour himself a cup of coffee. His heart was pounding and he was wide awake, but he felt like he needed it.

“But,” the Joker continued, “wouldn’t it be just so much fun if your butler joined in.”

“No. Leave him out of this, Joker. This is just between you and me.” Bruce downed the rest of his coffee before he slowly made his way out into the great hall, looking around and listening closely to the other line of the phone, trying to see if he could hear where the Joker was in his house. There was silence, accompanied by giggles on the other line as the Joker listened to Bruce struggle with the fact that he was in his house and knew who he was. While quiet settled on both lines, Bruce was the first to speak as he made his way around his house.

“Do you plan to have me on the phone the entire time I look for you?” Bruce opened the door to the drawing room, looking around for a moment as he decided that the Joker would never hide in there. He would hide in an area more interesting and more, well, Joker. He decided on a few areas of the house he would search first before he hit the areas that the Joker was less likely going to be in. He walked out of the drawing room as Joker answered him.

“I find it entertaining to hear you struggle, and I want to be able to hear your progress throughout this little game of ours,” he said matter-of-factly. “And I know your trying your hardest to figure out where I am by listening to me, but I don’t believe that will work. There’s nothing special about how this room sounds- oops! I gave you a bit of a hint there, didn’t I? Oh well! There’s a very small present for you, my dear.” Bruce rolled his eyes at the laughter on the other line, opening a door to the empty ball room.  
When empty, you could hear anything in the ball room. Bruce’s bare feet echoed through the large room as he walked across, noting what the Joker had just said. He would have known if he was in there if there was echoing on the other line, which there wasn’t. Bruce continued to walk to the conservatory, which was next to the ball room, listening to the breathing of the other man on the other end of the line. Joker laughed softly before he spoke again.

“It’s funny,” he started, like most of the time, “we both don’t get much sleep, do we? I mean, insomnia runs deep through our veins, hmm? Another common trait for both of us,” he mentioned, audibly shifting the way he was positioned in his hiding place. Bruce heard nothing around himself, assuming that the Joker was nowhere around himself.  
“I don’t sleep much because of, my night job,” Bruce explained, not completely understanding why he was just having a plain conversation now while he searched for a deranged madman who was hidden in his home. He was just glad that he didn’t include any other details about his insomnia, which were a bit more questionable.

Bruce has had insomnia ever since his parents had passed away when he was a child. It was a disorder that just developed by itself and then leaked into everything else he did. At first, he had some nightmares that only furthered his insomnia, but they slowly leaked away while he spent his time training and getting his life together before he had become what was now the Batman. The nightmares didn’t get bad until he accidentally caused the death of a man who had made a deal with the Red Hood Gang to make money for his family. His death haunted him and drove his belief in not killing anyone. Again, the nightmares died down after a while, but again were soon back when Batman had his first encounter with the Joker, and continued every time after that. Recently they were dying down again, but Bruce was worrying and stressing himself so much that he just stayed awake. The Joker was causing him to get no sleep, but he didn’t want to let him know that. The Joker would use it against him.

“Your night job, hmm, yes. That’s why you didn’t sleep last night, yes?” The Joker asked, his voice taking a different, lower tone. Bruce didn’t know why they were asking each other so many questions at the moment. It could possibly be attributed to the both of them slipping into an unknown territory of their difficult relationship. There was an uneasiness in the air, but that could just be Bruce. Joker was having the time of his life. “Or,” Joker audibly licked his lips,” was it because of our last little tussle? My it was enough to keep me up. Or was it that little show you put on for me in your big, comfy bed? Oh! I never asked, did you like my little note that I left you? I meant every word of it, you know,” the clown hummed happily to himself, knowing that this was a new way to poke at the bat. All he wanted was a reaction from him.

Bruce did give a reaction, but to the Joker’s dismay, it was a silent one. With no cowl to hide behind, Bruce’s face heated up and turned pink with embarrassment. He hoped there was no way that the Joker could see him, knowing that it would just egg the man on. Bruce didn’t reply, and instead opened a door to one of the bathrooms, the big one with the jacuzzi in it, feeling like the Joker would love to take a bath in it, only to find it empty. He left the door open and turned, going to look in other rooms. While searching, Bruce purposely avoided his own bedroom. He didn’t want to think about the Joker touching his personal thing or laying in his bed.

“Hmm, I think I can hear your footsteps. I think you may be close, unless one of your little servants are awake. It’d be a shame if they found me before you did. It would ruin the surprise,” the Joker had a less amused tone in his voice, actually showing some concern. Bruce was close.  
“No one starts working until 8, and if anyone does find you, I swear to God Joker...”

“Oh, don’t worry your little bat-brain, I won’t do anything unless provoked! To be honest, I’ve been feeling less murdery lately. I think they tried a new drug on me that actually worked for once. Too bad I’m not there to continue taking it.” The Joker laughed, but tried to stifle it as it could give him away, and it did. Bruce turned to look towards his bedroom, his stomach dropping. The door was cracked. He had shut it when he left his bedroom earlier that morning. God damn it. Of course he was in there. Bruce was just searching around to post-pone their inevitable meeting.

Bruce dropped his phone to his side, hanging up on the Joker. Slowly, he took silent steps towards the door and grabbed the door handle, pulling the door open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully I'll finish chapter three by the end of tonight and post it later or tomorrow.
> 
> Comments/Kudos' are greatly appreciated!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So I've finally wrote a fanfic after like 3 years! I'm sorry if the characters are a bit OOC, but oh well.  
> Follow me on tumblr: jokersby.tumblr.com
> 
> Comments/Kudos' are appreciated!


End file.
